Chasing Unicorns and Rainbows…and other valuable lessons from PubCon

It’s a pity that mom’s not around to ask me what I learned today. Because today, PubCon kicked off, and I learned a lot. So, let’s pretend that we’re at the family dinner table…now ask me, ask me, “What did you learn today?

Do you see what we just did in that paragraph? We engaged you. We had a brief conversation, but one that you were an integral part of. That’s the point of Michael Gray’s (owner and president of Atlas Web Service) SEO and Social Media session—engage your audience. Wanna know how? Sure you do!

Grab ‘Em Early—Titles

I bet the title of this blog made you stop. Here are a few of Gray’s tips for titles:

Keep it short (oops—bad habit from grad school…do what we say, not what we do)

Get to the point—even for blogs, don’t build to a climax. Tell your readers IMMEDIATELY what you’re going to say

Grab ‘em—create a title that “reaches through the screen, grabs them by the shirt and slaps them in the face!”

Want to see what that looks like? Here’s Gray’s example:

Instead of titling your blog:

My walk down Las Vegas Boulevard

Try:

The 12 freaks I saw on the Vegas strip

Once You’ve Got Them, Keep Them—Good Content

Once you’ve got your audience interested, you want to keep them reading. So, of course, whatever your social media channel, you need good content—make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, make ‘em go “huh?” But make them do something. Find the role you want to play in your readers’ lives and then write to fill it!

If you want to stay in your readers’ social media circles, you have to be exceptional. Be THE informational resource or THE cleverest Twitter quipper.

If you want a chance to spout your message on your terms: blog! Blogs are important to getting your message across (in more than 140 characters). These pieces are your chance to highlight your expertise, your niche. These pieces are your chance to link and be linked!

Sure, it’s not rocket science, but what we learned today at PubCon will turn SEO and SMM from fleeting figments of the imagination into magical guides to the pot of revenue gold! Because that’s really what it’s all about.

Yes, building community is important, but you have to know what to do with that community. If you just seek to build community without driving people to action that increases revenue, you’re just chasing unicorns and rainbows.